Investigators arrested Jeremy Alan Morin, 33, of 263 State St., for Sunday’s Central Street fire after probation officials told police that his GPS unit indicated that he had been at the vacant building, Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said.

Morin, released from prison in February, was arrested on a single charge of arson on Wednesday. He denied the charge in District Court and was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 cash bail. He was also held in lieu of an additional $50,000 cash bail for violating his terms of probation.

No injuries were reported in the fire at 253 Central St. It was reported about 2 a.m.

The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad deemed the blaze suspicious because it started in two separate locations on the first floor. The investigation was headed by Lt. John Friberg.

Court documents indicate that Morin told two people that he had set the Central Street blaze and probation officials were then alerted.

Documents state that an open flame was used to ignite such ordinary combustibles as rubbish, furniture and parts of the structure.

Morin pleaded guilty in 2002 to setting fire to a building at 145 State St.
A total of four fires broke out at the Civic Tower building of that year.. It took firefighters 21/2 hours to extinguish the blaze and firefighter Jayson Smuck was injured, according to documents.

The building sustained an estimated $100,000 in damages.

When he was arrested for the State Street fires, Morin told police he suffers from an impulse disorder that led him to set them. He was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for evaluation prior to sentencing.

During the 2002 trial, Hampden Assistant District Attorney Brett J. Vottero compared Morin to a habitual sex offender and told Hampshire Superior Court Judge Brian C. McDonald he was a high risk to continue setting fires. “Nothing in this report provides any reassurance that he will suddenly be safe after incarceration,“ he said.

In September 1998, Morin pleaded guilty in Hampden Superior Court to six counts of making a false report of an explosive. He was placed on probation for three years, and spent time on house arrest under electronic monitoring. The charges stemmed from bomb threats made to a Goodwill Industries facility, Tower Square, and a McDonald’s restaurant on Boston Road.

Court documents also show Morin pleaded innocent to a threatening charge in 1999 in Holyoke District Court, and was later given probation for that offense.